Dana Rademaker has won the Unilever Research Prize, which she received together with 2,500 euros at the Unilever’s Foods Innovation Centre on 12 December. She received the prize for her master’s thesis, which she wrote last year for the master’s programme Chemistry.

When stars are born, large clouds of gas and dust form that are known as circumstellar discs. Research by PhD candidate Francisca Concha-Ramírez shows that strong radiation from neighbouring stars soon evaporates the dust in these discs, which can prevent planet formation at an early stage. PhD defence…

This Saturday will be the first Kaiser Spring Lecture of this year! - A series of public lectures on Astronomy in the Old Observatory.

How did our universe come into being? Are there any other planets that support life? Read all about it in our new research dossier ‘Exploring the universe’.

Individual molecules are extremely hard to see through feeble fluorescence. Tiny gold nanorods serve as new antennas to intensify their signal 500 times. Publication on 24 February in Angewandte Chemie.

For the first time, Leiden University has made it to the top 10 of the UI Green Metric, a global sustainability ranking for universities. Of the 780 participating universities, Leiden has taken seventh place.

An international team of researchers with Pascale Ehrenfreund from Leiden University has discovered that the dust particles of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko are made up of even smaller particles. This discovery confirms that clumps of dust form the basis for comets and planets.

The Joan Van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series.

Create a world of opportunities with a Master's degree from Leiden University

In countries with complex domestic situations, citizens have little opportunity to exercise influence on governance and policy. Leiden academics research these situations and share their insights with the public, such as in Nigeria for instance. This enables the people and their communities to improve…

Access to information is a human right (United Nations, 1948). Information technology, such as search engines and recommender systems, has become the key mediator and facilitator to connect people to information (White, 2016). Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly being…

Science, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

Science, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML)

The transition from fossil fuels and the practical changes that this entails make many demands on citizens. Emma ter Mors, a psychologist and lecturer at Leiden University, is researching the factors that contribute to public perception and acceptance of new energy technologies.

Create a world of opportunities with a master's degree from Leiden University

Energy transition will entail the construction of large numbers of new energy installations. Such construction projects may meet with opposition from people living close by. Assistant Professor Bríd Walsh investigated how the local community can best take part in such projects.

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Shell cooperates with theoretical physicists and chemists of Leiden University to research how quantum computer algorithms can help simulate complex molecules.

How is Young Star Renske Donkers doing now? Early this year she was the second person ever to win the Young Star Award for the best bachelor student. After her bachelor Molecular Science & Technology, Renske is now busy with her master Chemical Process Engineering in Delft. ‘This award was a great boost…

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

The Chemistry research in Leiden is conducted in two major research areas: Chemical Biology and Energy & Sustainability. You will be part of one of our multidisciplinary research teams.

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

The European Union Studies programme is a specialisation of the master’s programme in International Relations and examines the processes of European integration from an interdisciplinary angle by a mix of specialist, academic researchers and experts with direct experience in policy-making and policy…

PhD Candidate Sabine K. Witting has published an article ‘Regulating bodies: child sexuality in the digital era’ in the Critical Quarterly for Legislation and Law, Vol. 1 2019.

Archaeologists often use the percentages of heat-affected stone or bone artifacts found at archaeological sites as a way to determine how frequently fire was used by the inhabitants. Andrew Sorensen and Fulco Scherjon have come up with a computer model called 'fiReproxies' to simulate how fires used…

Environmental researcher Paul Behrens generated both international as national media attention with his recent publication in Nature Energy. The media included Science Daily, Quartz and the Dutch financial newspaper Financieel Dagblad. In his publication, Behrens warns for possible power disruptions…

If all goes according to plan, Vasileios Karakasis will successfully defend his dissertation on Thursday 15 October. This will not only be a milestone for Vasileios, but also for the Dual PhD Centre (DPC).

As of today, Maartje van der Woude (Professor of Sociology of Law, Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance & Society) has become a member of the advisory board for Oxford Law’s research platform Border Criminologies.

On Thursday the 24th of November, Tseard Hoekstra and Jeroen Ververs (members of the delegation Holland Rijnland), Geert de Snoo (Dean Faculty of Science), Martina Vijver (CML), Herman Spaink (Scientific Director IBL) and Klaas Vrieling (IBL) explored possibilities for collaborations between companies…

An international team of astronomers, with researchers at Leiden Observatory playing a leading role, has mapped the fuel for galaxy formation in the iconic Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The results of the research have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

A very special occasion for the Dual PhD Centre. Vasileios P. Karakasis is the 25th PhD candidate in the history of the Dual PhD Centre, combining work with PhD research at Leiden University. Karakasis will defend his dissertation: ‘Adding Fuel to the Conflict’ on 15 October. In this interview, he discusses…

It all started with demonstrations protesting about the death of George Floyd from police brutality in Minneapolis, but the Black Lives Matter protest is spreading like wildfire across the whole of the US. Every day, thousands of people are taking to the streets. We asked American Studies expert Sara…

Electrochemist Marc Koper has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros for research into chemical reactions driven by electrodes and electricity. He hopes that new insights will make it into the textbooks and help design green processes, such as making fuel from greenhouse gas.

The research group headed by Leiden chemist Marc Koper has discovered a catalyst that minimizes the production of chlorine gas during salt water electrolysis. The invention can enable the direct production of hydrogen from seawater. The article has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical…

The coal-power energy sector is using enormous amounts of fresh water which is projected to negatively affect lives and the ecological balance of the surrounding region. This is the conclusion of the new report The Unquenchable Thirst of Energy Production, published by Greenpeace Bulgaria and Leiden…

Friday 5 February is Warm Sweater Day, a national initiative that encourages us to be aware of the simple measures we can take to save energy. The quickest win – certainly now we are all studying and working at home – is to turn the thermostat down a couple of degree. Take a selfie and share it on Instagram…

Ewine van Dishoeck, Professor of Molecular Astrophysics, was presented with the Kavli Prize by King Harald V of Norway during a ceremony on 4 September in Oslo. The prize consists of a gold medal and one million dollars.

Having a drink in a cafe and at the same time learning something about astronomy: this is Astronomy on Tap. The first edition in Leiden will take place on Monday 27 March.

The German Astronomical Society has awarded the 2019 Karl Schwarzschild Medal to professor of Molecular astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck. She will receive the medal during the annual meeting of the society from 16 to 20 September 2019 in Stuttgart.

The thermostat in Leiden University’s buildings will be turned down by two degrees. The temperature will also be adjusted in rooms that are cooled. This is the University’s response to the government’s call to use less energy.

Observations made with the ALMA telescope in Chile and ESA’s Rosetta mission, have detected the faint molecular fingerprint of methyl chloride in gas, a chemical commonly produced by industrial biological processes on Earth, around both an infant star and a comet. Methyl chloride, also known as Freon-40,…

The students from the Leiden University Green Office have big ambitions and have outlined their recommendations in a new Green Paper. Like being the most sustainable university in the world by 2030. Students Janey Franssen and Job Kemperman are two of the paper’s authors. How do they want to achieve…

An international team of astronomers has shown in a laboratory at Leiden University (the Netherlands) that methane can form on icy dust particles in space. The possibility had existed for quite some time, but because the conditions in space were difficult to simulate, it was not possible to prove this…

Today, ESA’s Gaia mission releases its new treasure trove of data about our home galaxy. Astronomers, led by the Leiden astronomer Anthony Brown, describe strange ‘starquakes’, stellar DNA, asymmetric motions and other fascinating insights in this most detailed Milky Way survey to date.

Graphene floating on water does not repel water, as many researchers believe, but rather attracts it. This has been demonstrated by chemists Liubov Belyaeva and Pauline van Deursen and their supervisor Grégory F. Schneider. Publication in Advanced Materials.

A team of astronomers led by Dutch scientists have directly imaged a giant planet orbiting at a large distance around a sun-like star. Why this planet is so massive, and how it got to be there, is still a mystery. The researchers will publish their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.